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Kitty 'accident' and litter box (re)location

harriethomeowner
16 years ago

We have had our two shelter cats for about two months now. We live in a ranch style house with a main floor and a basement. When we first brought the cats home, we put one litter box in the spare bedroom upstairs and the other one in the rec room downstairs. The cats have been meticulous about using the boxes, but as they have gotten used to each other, they both mainly use the one upstairs. We would really like to move this box elsewhere (preferably into the laundry room in the basement) because this is a nice room with hardwood floors and we're worried about them getting damaged. Especially after today: I walked in there and Max, the big male cat, was crouched in the box with his little butt hanging over the edge, pee running onto the floor. He obviously was trying to pee in the box but hadn't gotten himself positioned properly. Luckily, his urine was not that concentrated and didn't have an odor, so I was able to clean it up with no problem.

So for now, I put a large plastic garbage bag under the box. I also put a third litter box in the hall bathroom (which is next to the bedroom in question) under the sink to see if they will use it. Our strategy is if they start using the one in the bathroom, to start keeping the bedroom door closed to wean them off of the habit of using the bedroom, eventually.

Any other ideas? Thanks.

Comments (10)

  • irishdancersgram
    16 years ago

    We have 4 inside cats and 3 boxes located through out 2nd floor and basement. I had 1 in the 1st floor bathroom and moved it upstairs...We showed them all where they were and had no problem..Also, make sure they are big enough...Instead of the regular litter boxes, we got the plastic under the bed storage boxes and they seem to work...

  • Lily316
    16 years ago

    I have six regular litter boxes in the basement which isn't used for anything else. It's a 170 year old house w/ limestone walls and so the basement is used for nothing except my plants under a grow light in the winter. Upstairs I have one very large sterlite plastic box sitting on it's own lid in the sunroom. No one's butt can hang over it and the more vigorous scratchers don't get litter on the old wood floors. I think your idea will work if you do it slowly.

  • Elly_NJ
    16 years ago

    You can purchase larger litter boxes with high sides.

  • daisyadair
    16 years ago

    I've had really good luck with the under bed storage boxes too. I also bought one box from Walmart recently which is much bigger than they carried previously. I have the three boxes together in a cage in my garage.

  • livvysmom
    16 years ago

    We have one cat and one box at the bottom of the basement stairs. We have a cut-out in the door (www.cathole.com)

    My cat has no problem using the box in the basement -- he gets privacy and I don't have litter all over my floor upstairs.

  • sue36
    16 years ago

    Because our house is large we put one litter box in the mudroom (first floor) and one in the master bedroom (second floor) for the new kitten. He's big enough now to go up and down the stairs during the night without us, and we are slowing weaning him off the upstairs litter box. We moved it down the hallway and showed him. He forgot, and in the morning he cried looking for it so I showed it to him again. We'll leave it there for a week or so and then keeping moving it closer to the other one.

    Cats are all different. My previous cat could have her box moved daily and it didn't phase her. This one isn't as sharp.

    We had the same issue with the butt hanging over the edge of the litter box (with the previous cat). We started using a mortar pan (available at HD) and that worked well. And larger container would work.

    I would take the litter box out of the bedroom and close the door. Put it right outside the bedroom. Slowing move it towards where you eventually want it to go.

  • harriethomeowner
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Update: we got a larger litter box and put it outside the bedroom door, as suggested. We also put another litter box in the hall bathroom (there's a good spot for it under the sink). The cats love the new litter box, so much that they haven't used the one in the basement rec room at all since we put the new one out, nor have they used the old smaller one that I put in the laundry room. I'm afraid Max (the big male cat) may be afraid of the laundry room because of the furnace noise, which does not bode well for my plan of having the main "litter box station" in there.

    So I'm not sure what to do next. We can't keep this litter box in the hall indefinitely, but the cats definitely seem to like having it where the people are.

    Our old cat had no trouble using the litter box in the laundry room, btw.

  • quasifish
    16 years ago

    The litter box our cats use is actually a large plastic file box that we bought at Staples- it has high sides and no shaping on the sides that makes it hard to scoop- especially with a female cat who pees "backwards" into corners (and raises up while she's doing it.)

    A couple years ago when we first bought our house we had to do a major remodel while living here. When we were mostly done we wanted to move the location of the litter box but were concerned about how the cats might react. Since we didn't have a little kid at the time we just slowly "walked" the box from it's current location to the desired location. Each day we moved it about a foot or two until it ended up where we wanted it. I'm not even sure the cats paid enough attention to notice the move :^) It was a little weird at times to have a litter box migrating down the hallway- and sometimes in the way- but it was only temporary.

  • harriethomeowner
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Hmmm ... that would work for us, except for getting it down the stairs to the basement. :-)